Whilst the current weather is hot and fairly good, the forecast for the near future doesn't show any days that would be suitable for sailing nor for a maintenance visit either if the truth be told. I was looking at going down tomorrow but cancelled that when I saw that the temperature forecast was 31 Celsius and that would really cause problem with me and the epoxy.

So, I've been working on preparations for the next visit with things that need to be done in the workshop and taken down to fit or install.

The side frames for the new solar panel had a couple of coats of undercoat to start with.

Then a place to put the new flagstaff mount. Normally this would be mounted on the wooden top of the rudder stock but mine was made of copper so I had to improvise.

The result is pretty good as far as I am concerned.

It looks a bit strange in the workshop but I expect that it will look fine on Naiad. Why didn't I use the mount I took off Naiad? I hear you ask. I would have done but in searching for a flagstaff I came across a chandlery that was closing down and selling off all their stock. This is a pretty stylish flagstaff and mount and Naiad is worth it.

So I bought it.

Then the side frames had a couple of coats of topcoat.

I have a number of these small plastic bottles for various things, the lamp oil for the anchor light is kept in five of these. In fact, these were bought because they hold exactly one fill of lamp oil so there is little fiddling about when trying to get the oil into the lamp. I won't need to keep on taking the bottle away from the burner to see if it is nearly full, I just put 90% of the bottle in, 100% if I know that the burner is empty, and then look to see how much more will go in. Most of the time the burner will be empty so this is very handy.

These bottles came with a small funnel for filling so even refilling these is a straightforward process. 

I bought extra since I needed a number of small bottles for condiments, olive oil and the like and these were ideal. But I needed stowage for them somewhere.

So, I started making a small box that would hold four bottles.

Using thin plywood the box will just hold the four...

...like this and also...

...fit into the milk crate I have in Naiad.

I used very thin stainless steel wire to make the separators.

Like this and this also pads the bottles a little so that they can't move from side to side as the boat rocks. There's nothing worse than something going 'clink' every time the boat rocks. It's infuriating. 

Here the bottom is being glued in place so that the bottles don't fall through the crate and I'll cover the wires on the outside with something. I'll probably also give this a coat of paint inside and out just to prevent water ingress.

Now if only the weather will settle down so that I can get onto Naiad.

Time for a cup of tea.